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Roaming The Reef: Ernie Point to Eardley Canyon

Canyons of the San Rafael Reef IV | Saturday & Sunday, January 24-25, 2026

While I was initially just planning on just returning to the landscape surrounding Moab again this weekend like I typically do at this time of the year, as I was watching the winter storm unfold on Friday afternoon I saw that Moab was getting some rain and snow while the weather seemed to be completely missing the area around the San Rafael Reef, so I changed gears and decided to head over that way early on Saturday morning instead. Since I was looking to get in some decent elevation gain this weekend, I thought I might try hiking up to the Ernie Benchmark which is one of the highest points along the top of the San Rafael Reef. The drive to Green River early on Saturday morning was a bit slow with plenty of fog, snow and ice- but shortly after passing through Crescent Junction the snow and fog disappeared and the roads were dry for the remainder of the way. After topping off my gas tank in Green River I continued on to the base of the San Rafael Reef near the mouth of Ernie Canyon and prepared to start the hike. I had planned to start hiking from near the old drilling derrick, but apparently that road has now been closed since I was here last January and I would now need to hike a little further than I was expecting.

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Rock Art of the San Rafael Swell XVIII

Monday, August 26, 2024

After my plans were washed out in the Book Cliffs on Sunday, I met up again with my friend in the San Rafael Swell on Monday morning so we could spend most of the day visiting and searching for some rock art sites. The storms that had been prevalent the previous week had all cleared up overnight and the weather forecast was looking very dry for the foreseeable future so we didn’t have to worry about any of that today, although it was now a bit hazy or smoky out. Many of the roads we drove throughout the day were in rough shape from all the recent rain, but thankfully they were all dry and we had no troubles getting around in my Jeep. Even though we didn’t find everything we were looking for today, we still had a nice time sauntering around the Swell and now I’m really looking forward to getting back out into the desert more often starting in just a few more weeks!

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Return to The Chute of Muddy Creek

Floating Through the Muddy Creek Wilderness: Tomsich Butte to Hidden Splendor
Friday & Saturday, June 16-17, 2023 | Average CFS: 185

This year Jackson was really hoping we would be able to make it over to the San Rafael Swell so we could float through The Chute of Muddy Creek before the water levels dropped, but for a while there it was looking like we might not be able to make it happen this season. Luckily, the water levels of Muddy Creek have continued to stay high enough for a couple of weeks and on Friday afternoon as I was leaving work we made a last minute decision to give it a shot on Saturday morning. All of my river gear was still packed in the Jeep and ready to go, so we headed west into Utah and met up in Green River before making our way over to Hidden Splendor to drop off my Jeep at the take-out.

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Cane Wash: Locomotive Point to the San Rafael River

Friday – Saturday, November 6-7, 2020

I was originally planning to spend three days alone on Cedar Mesa this weekend, but the weather forecast had other plans for me with rain and snow predicted for much of that time. So instead of driving all the way down to Cedar Mesa and getting shut down by the weather, I planned to stay a little closer to home in the San Rafael Swell so I could try to get a hike in on Saturday morning and then head home before the storm arrived. I decided that hiking down Cane Wash to the San Rafael River sounded like a good plan because I figured that even if I didn’t beat the storm this hike and drive wouldn’t be a problem in the rain or snow.

Hondu Country: Upper Muddy Creek Gorge

Tomsich Butte to Poor Canyon, Road Hollow to Fix-It Pass & Slipper Arch
Friday & Saturday, May 1-2, 2020

I was originally supposed to be in the San Rafael Swell this weekend for an event that was cancelled due to the current COVID-19 pandemic, but since most of Utah, including Emery County, was open to camping again I decided to still head into the Swell so I could spend Saturday hiking and exploring more of the Muddy Creek Wilderness. I’ve gone on a couple of great trips along the Muddy Creek over the past few years and have been looking forward to getting back there again. This time I planned to hike into the Upper Gorge of Muddy Creek from Tomsich Butte and then continue into Poor Canyon as far as I could go. I was hoping that Poor Canyon would share some of the same amazing features that the forks of Chimney Canyon do, and I wasn’t disappointed!

Tag: sinbad country

Roaming The Reef: Ernie Point to Eardley Canyon

Rock Art of the San Rafael Swell XVIII

Return to The Chute of Muddy Creek

Cane Wash: Locomotive Point to the San Rafael River

Hondu Country: Upper Muddy Creek Gorge